Must not make a “Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” joke, must not make a “Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” joke, must not make a “Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” joke...

When Jeff Bridges teased last week that he was about to make his triumphant return as the Dude from The Big Lebowski, the most obvious outcome was that he was appearing in a Super Bowl ad. And sure enough, that’s exactly what this “mystery sequel” really is: Jeff Bridges, appearing as the Dude, in a commercial for Stella Artois. Which doesn‘t really seem like a beer the Dude would drink. (He does not pronounce the name right in the commercial, so obviously that’s the point; Stella wants to market their product to movie dorks and aging stoners who tend to prefer a less hoity-toity class of beer and this is the way they’re doing that.) At least they resisted the urge to have him say “Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” (Ah, nuts.)

Sarah Jessica Parker is in the ad too, riffing on her Sex and the City character, Carrie Bradshaw. It’s quite the crossover. The Super Bowl airs this Sunday. Maybe some other Coen brothers characters will show up in ads. Fingers crossed for Llewyn Davis singing a plaintive ballad about Friskies cat food.